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Galena rebounding from pollution, mineshafts

GALENA — A small southeast Kansas town is beginning to bustle again after years of fighting a reputation as a polluted town riddled with abandoned mine shafts.

Officials in Galena say a hospital that opened in February and created 80 new jobs has capped a decades-long effort to revive the city.

Decades ago, the United States Geological Survey said Galena was the most polluted city Kansas. And when a bar was nearly swallowed by a mineshaft in 2006 — attracting national news coverage — city officials said rebuilding efforts were stymied by a lack of money.

The Joplin Globe reports (http://bit.ly/10N1njJ) several new businesses have opened in downtown Galena in the last two years, with hopes of attracting hospital employees and patients and persuading travelers on the nearby Route 66 to stop.